Oman Cement Company and Raysut Cement Company, Oman’s two main cement manufacturers, have set up a joint venture to explore the feasibility of setting up a large cement plant at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Duqm, said a report.

The consultants appointed by the two principal partners have submitted a draft of their feasibility study into the project, added the Oman Daily Observer report.

Al Wusta Cement, the new joint venture, will not only seek to meet the infrastructure requirements of investors setting up operations in Duqm, but will also target export markets in the Middle East, East Africa and the Indian sub-continent, it said.

The joint venture is seeking to partially offset a widening deficit in domestic capacity that currently leaves the sultanate dependent on imports for an astonishing 54 per cent of its total requirement of cement.

Tanfeedh — the National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification — is mooting the establishment of a cement manufacturing hub in Duqm to plug this shortfall through investments in as many as three new cement plants in the SEZ.

Tanfeedh’s proposals call for the development of two cement plants each of a capacity of three million tonnes per annum, and a white cement plant initially of 300,000 tonnes per annum dedicated primarily for export.

Also proposed are cement grinding plants in Duqm and Sohar, added the report.